When Ronald Reagan was elected, rich Republicans saw an opportunity to cut their taxes, but how do you sell to voters a massive redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich? The answer was to invent a new economic paradigm: Cut taxes for the rich, and they’ll reward you by giving you jobs. Reaganomics was born, and Republicans rejoiced. The prosperous period that followed was the result of massive deficit spending to fuel an enormous military buildup, but causation is not correlation, and the narrative that cutting taxes results in economic growth was enshrined in the Republican doctrine.

The 2016 election demonstrated—in a yuge way!—that conventional wisdom about American politics, especially the “rush to the center” and the notion of independent thought within parties, no longer applies. Which is probably bad news for Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (CD-11) who has so far held on to his seat for a whopping 12 terms and parlayed himself into the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful posts in the nation.

Whether sitting in the virtual parking lot that Route 80 becomes at “rush” hours, or in a rail car held up because of yet another derailment, New Jersey commuters are finding it more arduous to simply get to work. And it looks like it’s about to become worse.

George H.W. Bush called Ronald Reagan’s theories “voodoo economics” and Reagan’s own budget director, David Stockman, also not exactly a flaming liberal, debunked “supply-side” or “trickle-down” economics as a pipe dream.

But in the ensuing decades, the notion that eliminating taxes on the wealthy, and on corporations, has become enshrined in the national conservative conscientious. And despite effects of those policies turning out to be as helpful to working people as unicorns flying over rainbows, GOP legislators continue to insist shifting more people’s money to fewer rich people is the tide that raises all boats.

High property taxes, an onerous gas tax, an exodus out of the county, a crumbling infrastructure and a declining local economy affect everyone who lives in Sussex County no matter where they stand in terms of political philosophy.

Opponents of the PennEast pipeline appealed this week to Gov. Chris Christie and his administration to block construction of the pipeline, a proposed 115-mile conduit for natural gas to run through Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Unsuccessful at getting their representative to meet them on home turf, three busses filled with activists organized by New Jersey 11th for Change took their quest to Rodney Frelinghuysen’s (R-11) office in Washington, D.C., and some of them got a face-to-face meeting with the formerly reclusive congressman.

To the immense relief of just about everybody, Chris Christie’s tenure in the State House is about to come to an end. Monday was the deadline to file for the primaries, and 11 people —five Republicans and six Democrats—submitted petitions of 1,000 signatures, which places them on their parties’ ballots.

Inspired by a similar move in Minnesota, Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-37), the senate majority leader, plans to introduce legislation that would prevent Internet providers from selling customers’ personal information and browsing history without their written consent.